According to an exclusive report from Reuters, Enrique Tarrio, the leader of the Proud Boys extremist group, repeatedly worked as an undercover informant after being arrested in 2012.
Reuters obtained a transcript of a 2014 federal court proceeding that showed a federal prosecutor, a Federal Bureau of Investigation agent, and Tarrio’s lawyer detailing his work as an informant. They stated that Tarrio helped authorities prosecute over a dozen people in various cases involving drugs, gambling, and human smuggling.
When Reuters asked Tarrio about working with investigators and cooperating in cases, he stated, "I don’t know any of this." Tarrio also stated that he didn't recall anything about the transcripts. However, the former federal prosecutor in Tarrio’s case, Vanessa Singh Johannes, confirmed that Tarrio "cooperated with local and federal law enforcement, to aid in the prosecution of those running other, separate criminal enterprises, ranging from running marijuana grow houses in Miami to operating pharmaceutical fraud schemes."
Tarrio’s then-lawyer Jeffrey Feiler also praised him in court for being a "prolific" cooperator on various undercover investigations, including one involving the sale of anabolic steroids, another regarding "wholesale prescription narcotics," and a third targeting human smuggling. Feiler added that during the smuggling case, Tarrio put himself "at his own risk, in an undercover role met and negotiated to pay $11,000 to members of that ring to bring in fictitious family members of his from another country."
Source: Reuters
